The traditional broom is a cleaning implement widely used everywhere in the world. The basic structure of a broom has essentially been unchanged since it was first created. The traditional broom includes a handle and a brush head, and although technology has advanced, the basic structure has been maintained. Traditional brooms can be made with simple or complex, state of the art materials. A traditional broom may be made from a bundle of twigs tied together forming a stiff handle and a brush head, or made from state of the art materials such as thermoplastics, polymers and composites. Although the traditional broom is still widely used throughout the world, there have been slight variations to the traditional broom.
One variation of the traditional broom is the push-type broom created to handle heavy duty sweeping. The push-type broom, commonly referred to as the push broom, has a wide brush head with relatively short bristles, to which a handle is attached at an angle in the center of the brush head. The push broom brush is typically wider to cover more surface area. The bristles are stiff to allow the movement of heavier and larger amount of debris. The handle is angled to allow a user to apply a larger force to the broom enabling the push broom to push larger amounts of debris.
Another variation of a type of cleaning tool similar to a push broom is the dust mop. The dust mop is similar to the push broom, but instead of a wide brush head with relatively short bristles the dust mop includes a wide brush head with a removable dust mop head made of soft fibers. The soft fibers may be cotton, microfiber, or any other material used to pick up dust.
Yet another variation of a type of cleaning tool similar to a push broom is the push-type broom with disposable cleaning pad attachments. The push-type broom with disposable cleaning pad is similar to the push broom, but instead of a wide brush head with relatively short bristles the push-type broom with disposable cleaning pad includes a wide brush head with a removable cleaning pad attached to the wide brush head. The removable cleaning pad may have a variety of cleaning surfaces, such as cotton, microfiber, electrostatic cleaning sheets, or any other material used to clean floors.
However, the push broom has its limitations and drawbacks. As result of its large brush head and the location of the broom handle at the center, the distribution of force across the brush head is unequal. This allows debris to escape from the bristles at the edges of the push broom. The debris also tends to lodge itself within the bristles of the push broom which then requires the user to exert additional force or physical interaction with the broom to dislodge the debris, such as tapping or scraping the brush head. Further, the bristles of the large brush head are spaced with large gaps that allow debris to slip past the bristles. This requires a user to continually push the push broom over the same area to ensure that all of the debris has been swept up and that no debris has slipped through the gaps. The limitations and drawbacks of the push broom are also present in other types of cleaning tools, including the push-type broom with disposable cleaning pad attachments and dust mops.
In light of the above, it would be advantageous to provide a push type cleaning tool with a dynamic head capable of providing an additional sweeping motion at the end of a user's sweeping stroke. It would further be advantageous to provide a cleaning tool with a dynamic head capable of rotating from a first position to a second position where the dynamic head returns to the first position from the second position automatically. In light of the above, it would be advantageous to provide a push type cleaning tool with a dynamic brush head capable of providing an additional sweeping motion at the end of a user's sweeping stroke. It would further be advantageous to provide a push type cleaning tool with a dynamic brush head capable of rotating from a first position to a second position where the dynamic brush head returns to the first position from the second position automatically.